


My Persuasion Can Build a Nation

by ribcage



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Teenagers, Euriarty (sorta), Eurus Had a Best Friend AU, Eurus and Molly are BFFs, Eurus has humanity, Eurus is obsessed with Jim, Eurus never went to Sherrinford, Eurus ships Molly and Jim, F/M, Female Friendship, Friendship, Gen, Jim is Mr. Sex, Matchmaker!Eurus, Mycroft is basically both a mom and dad to his siblings, POV Eurus Holmes, Past Self-Harm (mention), Sherlock has no Jawn to keep him in line, molliarty - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-04
Updated: 2017-11-04
Packaged: 2019-01-29 02:34:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,005
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12621220
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ribcage/pseuds/ribcage
Summary: In a world where Eurus had a best friend growing up, she doesn't go to Sherrinford, nor does she turn out as unhinged as she did in canon. However, she's still Eurus, and her brothers absolutely forbid her from meeting Jim Moriarty. She'll just have to fix that, won't she? Also: Matchmaker!Eurus ftw.





	My Persuasion Can Build a Nation

**Author's Note:**

> Eurus and Molly being best friends has become my new favorite thing. Eurus has grown on me, and I've realized her best character trait (her obsession with Jim Moriarty) is a lot of fun to play around with, especially when you make her a matchmaker... ;) Title comes from Run the World (Girls) by Beyoncé because I found it fitting. Hope you enjoy, and if you do, bookmarks, comments, and/or kudos are very much appreciated!

“Oh, come on, Mycroft!”

“Nope.”

“You’re taking him in for questioning ten miles from our house! It’s the perfect opportunity!”

“Again: nope. And—how do you even know about that, anyway?”

Eurus raised one perfectly waxed brow. She’d gotten them done just this past weekend with Molly who insisted this was somehow important to the female beauty regime. Eurus only went along to pacify her best friend, though she supposed her eyebrows looked nice afterward if she squinted hard enough. “I’m me. I know everything.”

“Not when to give up…” her eldest brother mumbled around a mouthful of cream cheese bagel.

It would’ve been going for the cheap shot to tell Myc he didn’t know when to stop eating, so she didn’t.

Sherlock did, accompanied by a, “What are you two bickering about this morning?” as he sidled into their kitchen.

“Our sister here would like me to let her skip school to meet Moriarty,” Mycroft said in his best snooty debriefing voice, aka his regular voice.

Her second eldest brother laughed right in her face. “Never.”

Eurus’s mouth dropped. “You’ve met him!”

“Yes, when he tried to blow me up,” Sherlock reminded her sharply. “And I wasn’t exactly looking to shag him, little sister.”

“I’m not, either!” Well, to be fair, she wanted to, had fantasized about it countless times, but the fact of the matter was she tended to get a little… _murderous_ after orgasm, so it was really safer for her to stick to a vibrator rather than people. The three bodies Molly had helped her bury would tell you that. _Would_ , if they weren’t dead. Eurus had no desire to end the extraordinary life that was James Moriarty, so sex was off the table. She only wished to meet him…

…during which time she would make her case for why he should let her come on the road with him so they could be partners in crime.

Sherlock wasn’t buying it. “Right. You’re sixteen; he’s twenty-two. I think not.”

“It’s not that big of an age difference.”

“He’s older than me!”

“Yeah, but he’s not older than Mycroft, so he’s not _old_!”

Mycroft had been in the middle of shoving the remaining piece of his bagel in his mouth, but he paused his motions to stare at her.

“Come now.” Sherlock grabbed his backpack and slung an arm across his sister’s shoulders. “My eternal admirer will be here any minute.”

Eurus growled and shoved him away. “Oh, piss off. I don’t think she likes you very much anymore.”

Sherlock scoffed in that obnoxious way only he could perfect.

Sure enough, Molly pulled into their driveway the moment they stepped outside.

“Bad morning, was it?” she chirped from behind the wheel of her Cavalier.

Eurus internally groaned. She was wearing that lipstick again.

“Forgetful morning, was it?” she muttered as she took the passenger seat, sulkily arranging her bag in her lap.

“ _Molly_ ,” Sherlock greeted from the back row, though he was looking at his sister as he spoke. “I can see your mouth today. Off we go, then.”

Molly’s face fell. She gave Eurus a guilty side glance.

An accusatory glower was her only response.

* * *

Once they’d dropped Sherlock off at his building, Eurus and Molly had twenty minutes to wander campus before their own class started. Sherlock and Eurus were both several grades above their ages, and at just sixteen, Eurus was close to getting her second degree. Pathology this time, both so she could take the same classes as Molly, and so there would be two girls with knowledge on dead bodies the next time she had a slip-up.

“It’s not _fair_ ,” Eurus whined. “Both of my brothers have met him, Mycroft several times, and I’m not allowed to?” She kicked the toe of her combat boot into the seat of the picnic table the girls had settled down at. “Being the youngest sucks.”

“You mean being the smartest sucks.” Molly smiled up from her notebook page full of doodles. “They’re afraid you two’ll take over the world if you meet him.”

“We _would_!” Eurus dramatically flopped back on the table top. “A match made in Hell and Mycroft is forbidding it…”

“I think I’d miss you too much if you left with this Moriarty character to plot world domination,” her friend mused.

“Yeah, who would keep you from throwing yourself at Sherlock then? Oh wait.”

Molly averted her eyes. “I’m allowed to wear lipstick without it being for him…”

Eurus tamped down her biological instinct to tell Molly about Sherlock’s commentary this morning. More than likely Molly’s feelings wouldn’t go away if she knew how Sherlock spoke of her behind her back; her feelings would only be wounded, and that was something Eurus had grown to do her best to prevent. Therefore, she didn’t mind being the bad guy.

“Allowed? Yes. But do you?” She lifted her head and made a show of looking all around. “No.”

Molly only huffed and pursed her lips.

“Anyway, you wouldn’t miss me,” the youngest Holmes said confidently. “Because you’d come with us.”

“ _Me_?”

“You. Jim would be very impressed with your level of comfort with death. You’d be quite useful to him.”

“ _Jim_?” Molly repeated incredulously.

Eurus blinked several times. “That’s his name, isn’t it?”

Her friend shook her head and returned to her doodles. “Your level of comfort with criminal masterminds is disconcerting. I can see why Mycroft said no.”

“Oh, please, you can’t see why Mycroft does anything. No one can. Why he’d want to stand in the way of fate is beyond me…”

Molly flipped her notebook closed and stood. “Come on, Moriarty Fangirl. We’ll be late for class.”

Eurus bolted upright and gasped. “Do you think I could start a fan club? I know his brand runs on anonymity and all, but do you think I could?”

Molly only chuckled and shook her head as she led the way to their building.

* * *

Eurus was not over it by lunchtime.

“Personally, I feel there’s an argument for sexism to be made,” she said around a bite of chicken salad. “Why is it the only _female_ Holmes sibling is being barred from meeting him, hmm?”

Molly opened her mouth to respond when something caught her eye across the patio. Her eyebrows drew together and she frowned. “Hey, isn’t that your brother’s intern? Athena?”

“Her name’s Anthea, and…” Eurus turned to follow her friend’s gaze and quickly found Mycroft’s part-time assistant striding across campus. For the first time all day, something other than Moriarty peaked her interest. Anthea was still in high school; what was she doing at uni? “Yes, it is. Follow me.” Eurus scooped up her bag and speed-walked after the girl.

“Wait!” Molly dumped both of their trays and ran to catch up with her best friend.

The girls quietly trailed the younger woman for ten minutes until they reached the business building. Anthea stopped just before the doors and whirled around. One hand went to her hip while the other held her phone out to her side. She leveled an icy glare at Eurus.

“Wanna tell me why you’re following me?” she snapped.

Eurus’s best predatory smile stretched across her face. “Sure. But first I think you want to tell us why you’re here.”

Anthea’s eyes widened. “No. He warned me about you, about your mind tricks—”

She tried to turn away, but Eurus quickly closed the space between them and grabbed onto her arm. “Hey, it’s okay. You don’t really believe him, do you? You don’t really think I have ‘mind tricks,’ right?”

“Oh, boy…” Molly leaned her head back miserably. Somehow, she always found herself caught up in Eurus’s schemes.

Anthea searched the older girl’s face, suddenly so relaxed, so inviting. “Um… I guess… not…”

“There, there…” Eurus rubbed her hands along the other girl’s upper arms. “It’s okay. Now, I really think you wanted to tell me what you’re doing here.”

“Mycroft told me to check up on you,” she said in a trance-like state. “Make sure you weren’t sneaking over to his workplace during your lunch hour.”

“Right, and?”

Anthea looked down. “That’s…”

“I know that’s not all, Anthea,” Eurus said kindly. “What were you going in this building for?”

“I… can’t say…”

“ _Eurus_.” Molly gave her friend a very pointed look. Her tone alone was a clear warning to dial it down.

Eurus sighed. “Fine, Molly…” Turning back to Anthea, she said, “How about this: you go do exactly what you were going to do and forget this ever happened. Forget I’m eavesdropping. Okay?”

The younger woman nodded absently. “Okay.”

Eurus released her and watched as she walked through the double doors. She gave it ten seconds then turned to Molly and said, “Let’s go.”

As they trailed Anthea through the building, Molly asked, “How many times have you mind-controlled me?”

“You’re still pining after my brother; you tell me.”

Molly took her hand and stopped her on the stairs. “I’m serious, Eurus.”

The youngest Holmes sibling frowned. “Never. You know I’d never do that to you, Molly.”

Eurus thought it was fair to say Molly _was_ her humanity. She didn’t like to imagine how she’d have turned out without a best friend, but thankfully, she’d never have to know. Sure, Molly wasn’t a genius, but she wasn’t ordinary, either. Molly _saw_ people. She saw Sherlock—saw past his ten layers of Emotionless Asshole persona—and she saw Eurus, too.

Years ago, Molly had picked up on the fact Eurus didn’t understand how emotions and human connection worked, but that she desperately wanted to. In turn, she had made it her mission to teach the younger girl everything she knew. Eurus valued not only Molly’s friendship, but Molly as a person. It was because of her Eurus was capable of caring about (a very few select) others and wasn’t all alone in the world. She would never use her mind tricks on Molly, even if doing so would mean her best friend was better off. She respected her too much to take away her choices.

Molly offered up a small, genuine smile.

“Even when I should…” Eurus couldn’t help but add.

Molly rolled her eyes and resumed her ascent up the stairs. “Come on.”

Anthea was just entering the last room on the left when the girls reached the second floor. They ran down the hall and crouched beneath the window within the closed door.

“Ah, Anthea. What’s the word on my sister?”

“She hasn’t tried to leave campus, sir. She was eating lunch with Molly Hooper as usual.”

The girls looked at each other.

_As usual?_ Molly mouthed.

Eurus shook her head dismissively and pressed her ear to the door.

“Good, good. My assistance with Mr. Moriarty is not needed for another half hour.”

“And my lunch break isn’t over for another twenty minutes…”

The talking stopped.

Eurus popped her head up and sneaked a peek through the glass…

…and almost threw up.

Her brother was making out with Anthea.

Her brother, Mycroft, who was twenty-four years old, was making out with Anthea. _Anthea_. A high schooler who was fifteen.

Eurus wanted to bust down the door and mock her brother mercilessly, but then she realized the ultimate plan had just landed in her lap.

She extracted her phone from the pocket of her skinny jeans, snapped a picture of the couple, and motioned for Molly to follow her back down the hall.

Molly stole a quick glance through the window herself and made a comically horrified face before scampering off.

Once they were back outside, she shuddered with disgust. “Ew! Isn’t your brother, like, thirty?”

“Indeed,” Eurus said with a smile. “Thirty and blackmailed.”

* * *

Mycroft didn’t get in until 11:02 pm that night. When he did, he discovered Eurus perched upon his bed.

He jumped a little despite himself. “Sister. You waited up for me. I can’t imagine why.”

“No, you probably can’t,” Eurus agreed with a smile. “How was it, then? Seeing Jim again?”

Her eldest brother made a face as he put away his cane and briefcase. Eurus was quickly reminded of her morning encounter with Molly, of how it apparently unsettled people that she referred to Jim by his first name. She didn’t get it.

“Disturbing,” Mycroft responded, toeing off his shoes. He looked at her then, wearing his Serious Big Brother expression. “He’s not someone you want to know, Eurus. I know you think it would be an adventure or whatever it is you’ve cooked up in that brain of yours, but he’s a very bad person.”

Eurus cocked her head to the side and screwed her face up in a look of exaggerated confusion. She and Molly had debated the reality of good and bad countless times, so many times she was able to keep her commentary on the issue to herself just now. Instead, she opened her mouth and said, “’Bad person.’ Interesting choice of words. I’m just curious: wouldn’t most of the British government consider you a bad person if they knew you’re sleeping with a high school student nine years your junior?”

Mycroft tripped over his own feet. He stared at her, and Eurus delighted in the gradual discoloration of his skin. “ _How_?”

“I followed her today. We spoke, actually. Wait—she didn’t _tell_ you?”

Her brother’s fear seamlessly morphed into fury. “Eurus, if you did _anything_ to her—”

“Relaaaax.” She waved a hand dismissively. “She’s fine. I only suggested she forget Molly and I were trailing her up to your, ahem, _office_. Say, d’you think the university _knows_ you use one of their classrooms to shag a girl younger than your kid sister?”

Mycroft closed his eyes in defeat. “I’m not about to let my _kid sister_ run off with the world’s only consulting criminal. I’ll send you away before I allow it.”

“See, I thought you’d say that.” Eurus swung her feet for momentum and hopped off of her brother’s bed. “Which is why I’ve come up with a compromise.”

He straightened his posture and raised his chin in that overly important way of his. “Go on.”

“I’ll stop bugging you to let me meet Jim, _and_ I’ll stop planning to run away with him…” Eurus trailed off as she did something on her phone.

“ _If_?” her brother impatiently prompted.

“ _If_ you award me the small treat of speaking with him for five minutes on Christmas. Alone.”

Mycroft opened his mouth, surely to object, but the words got caught in his throat when Eurus thrust her phone in his face. The Picture stared back at him.

“Great quality, isn’t it? Such high res… There’s no doubting it’s you and Anthea. Though, if you’d like your boss and her parents to be the judge of that…”

“ _Fine_.”

She had fully expected a victory, but her heart skipped a beat all the same. “What was that?”

“Five unsupervised minutes with Mr. Moriarty this Christmas,” Mycroft conceded. “But if you end up pregnant, so help me, Eurus, I will drive you to the abortion clinic myself.”

Eurus didn’t bother telling Mycroft he wouldn’t be getting rid of Jim that easily, that she was absolutely not going to sleep with him in the event she killed him afterward. She didn’t imagine she could ever want to kill Jim, but then, she’d already put three bodies in the ground. Something _happened_ to her after sex. Although… she doubted she’d be able to kill him, anyway. He could probably—a wave of arousal washed over her— _outsmart her_.

“Stop!” Mycroft demanded, clearly disturbed. Apparently, her fantasy was written all over her face. “I mean it. No birthing any crazy Irish babies.”

“Yes, sir.” She mock-saluted her brother then skirted around him toward the door.

“And I want any and all copies of that picture deleted afterward! Using my personal life as blackmail is a one-time only thing.”

“Sure, sure,” Eurus called over her shoulder. She ran to her own bedroom and squealed into a pillow.

The promise of meeting the world’s only consulting criminal had elicited her most normal teenage girl reaction to date.

* * *

“What about this?”

Both of Molly’s eyebrows disappeared into her hairline. “I thought the idea was to _not_ sleep with him.”

Eurus bit her lip and looked herself over in the mirror. The black dress had a low neckline and hugged her hips like a glove. “That good, huh?”

The irony was not lost on her: less than a week ago, she had no interest in getting her eyebrows done, and now she was holding a private fashion show to choose an outfit. But this wasn’t just any outfit; it was the outfit she would be wearing to meet _Jim Moriarty_. It would be rude to not select her attire with the utmost care.

“Try to remember I’m supposed to be a responsible twenty-year-old woman,” Molly said feebly. She rolled onto her back on Eurus’s bed and stretched out her limbs.

“So?” Eurus slipped out of the dress and whisked another off the rack in her closet.

“ _So_ , I don’t think it’s very responsible of me to be helping you pick out a dress to woo a criminal mastermind into letting you run away with him.”

“I’m not running away with him anymore.”

Molly hugged a pillow to her chest and watched as Eurus tried on a periwinkle dress this time. “Wait. If you’re not having sex or plotting world domination, what are you planning on doing with him for five minutes?”

“Making an impression,” Eurus responded firmly. “I’m giving him a chance to evaluate me so he’ll consider me in the future. In less than two years, Mycroft will have no say in what I do; I’ll be a legal adult.” She spun around and made a face. “This one’s a definite no.”

Molly couldn’t help but grimace. “Yeah, agreed.” She pushed herself off the mattress and wandered over to the closet. She flicked through dress after dress, humming to herself. “Try this.” She tossed Eurus a white strappy gown.

Her friend frowned. “White? Are you sure?”

“Give it a go. I think it’ll compliment your dark hair nicely.”

Eurus shrugged and started to change.

“Are you nervous?” Molly gathered the rejects and hung them back up one by one.

“Mmm…” Eurus fluffed her hair out and turned to examine her reflection. “I wouldn’t call it nervous. More like so excited I can’t sleep.” She beamed and turned to Molly. “And you were right: white it is.”

* * *

For the first time in her life, Eurus was thankful her family was extremely unconventional around the holidays. She’d never minded it before, but she’d never found it to be the highlight of her year, either, the way she and her brothers didn’t buy each other presents or put up a tree. Molly always brought over some of her own decorations to hang around Eurus’s room, but otherwise, Musgrave Hall remained void of any signs of Christmas.

Because of their non-observance of the day, Sherlock wasn’t the least bit suspicious when Mycroft told him he had a case he’d like him to work on at his office—on December 25. Half an hour after Sherlock’s departure, Mycroft gave Eurus an uneasy look and said, “He’ll be here in twenty minutes.”

Eurus changed into her dress and debated on how she should _be_ when he entered her bedroom. Should she stand? Sit on her bed? Sit on her bed and then rise to greet him like would be done for a king? He was _the_ king, after all.

In the end, she decided to kneel directly across from her door. She wanted to convey her deference for his status and her submission to serving him in the future, although really, she’d been serving him since the first day Sherlock ran about London, trying to solve one of his puzzles. Taking random hostages to make her brother dance. _Delightful_.

It wasn’t long after that Mycroft arrested him for the first time and obtained a photograph of him. No one was supposed to see it, it was strictly for British government official eyes only, but Eurus had a way of knowing any and everything to do with Jim Moriarty. It was all too easy to get her hands on the picture. The moment she laid eyes on him—the blank defiance on his gorgeous face, the demented glint in his dark eyes—she was gone. She wouldn’t say she was in love with him, but she was in awe. She had to know him; she needed _him_ to know _her_. It was hardly fair her brothers got to run amuck grabbing his attention left and right while she remained in the shadows, was it?

She had been sitting on her knees for ten minutes when she heard the front door open and close. She bowed her head and closed her eyes, doing her best to tune into any and all sounds. Mycroft said some things in a hushed tone, and she could’ve sworn she heard an enchanted Irish lilt respond ever so softly. She wriggled her toes in her silver flats and took deep breaths to contain herself.

The moment she heard footsteps approaching, she forced her toes to be still.

Her bedroom door opened.

There stood Jim Moriarty.

Eurus lifted her head. Her jaw promptly slackened at the sheer brilliance of his presence. He was dressed in a classic Westwood, of course, not a thread out of place. His nearly-black eyes studied her with interest as she immediately got to her feet, despite the sudden Jell-O-like state of her legs. They walked toward each other until they met in the middle of her bedroom, the only light coming from the clear fairy lights Molly had strung up from wall to wall.

He held his hands out in offering. “I’m your Christmas present,” he told her in a sensual tone she was quickly falling apart for. He took one more step and they were as close as they could possibly be without touching. Nonetheless, Eurus could feel the heat radiating off his body, could smell his expensive cologne, and it was all she could do to remember her dignity. “So what’s mine?” he asked, leaning closer still, his lips just brushing her ear.

Eurus’s blood thrummed with desire. She swallowed down the whine threatening to escape her throat and took a step back. “Bad idea,” she reluctantly told him. “I have this—this _thing_ after sex… My partners don’t make it out alive.”

For the briefest moment, this _look_ flitted across Jim’s face, so brief she almost doubted her genius mind that it had been there at all, and then he was closing the gap between them once more. His eyes roved her body so intently she realized their perusal was no longer genuine, he was putting on an act, and he whispered, “Oh?”

And just like that, Eurus was encased in a panic so all-consuming she forgot her arousal entirely.

_He’s suicidal._

Her thoughts raced a mile a minute. _No_. No, no, no. Jim was not allowed to die! But she knew for a fact he always got what he wanted, which meant one way or another, eventually, he would find a way to end his life. And—oh god. Didn’t he have some game with Sherlock on hold at this very moment? Was that his endgame? Play with Sherlock until he met his own end? No. No, she wouldn’t allow it.

Eurus had been there once herself. She was eight, and she hadn’t actively been seeking death, but she’d cut her wrists knowing full-well the risks. _If I cut too deep someday and don’t wake up_ , she remembered thinking, _that’ll be okay_.

But then Molly had intervened.

“Why do you hurt yourself, Eurus?” Her voice had been gentle and filled with genuine curiosity.

Little Eurus had burst into tears. Crying had always been a rarity for her, but it happened from time to time. She was embarrassed Molly had picked up on her habit. “You wouldn’t understand,” she’d replied honestly. “N-No one understands me.”

Molly had enveloped the younger girl in a warm hug. “Try me.”

Eurus had opened up to Molly that day, and somehow, the older girl understood. She wasn’t a sociopath herself, but she didn’t fit in with other kids, either. She too was different in some way.

Gradually, Eurus stopped turning to a blade for comfort and started leaning on her new best friend instead. It wasn’t until her eleventh birthday that the youngest Holmes realized, to her great surprise, that she valued her own life. She actively didn’t want to die because Molly had taught her how to enjoy being alive.

Add in Molly’s “type” and the fact she desperately needed to get over her crush on Sherlock, and the perfect plan practically wrapped itself in a bow and fell at Eurus’s feet.

“Molly,” she spoke.

Jim froze. His face scrunched up in an adorable expression of confusion. _Confusion_! How sweet was he? “Molly?” he repeated, his accent causing the L’s in her name to sound pornographic.

Eurus nodded her head with absolute certainty. “You asked me what your present is. The answer is Molly.”

Jim’s eyes became comically wide. “I’m afraid you’ve mistaken me for your brother, my dear. I don’t do drugs; I consider them cheating.”

God, he had a moral code, too? Not based on emotional context (dull), but on his refusal to ever do anything boring? This man’s only flaw was his death wish, and Eurus was going to fix that. More precisely: _Molly_ was going to fix that.

Eurus couldn’t contain her radiant smile. “No, silly, not the drug. Molly’s my best friend. Your present is going on a date with her.”

Jim narrowed his eyes now, one corner of his mouth turning up in an amused half-smile. Eurus doubted he encountered many people brave enough to be playful with him. She was more than happy to change that. “And what…” He tipped his head downward so their foreheads were a hairsbreadth apart. “ _Pray tell_ … is so special about Little Miss Molly?”

“She’s studying pathology at uni, and she’s already had lots of practice with dead people: she got rid of my ex-lovers’ bodies and helped me cover up their murders without batting an eye. She also loves cats and _Glee_ , _and_ she doesn’t kill her sex partners in the afterglow. She’s basically the perfect woman.”

A laugh escaped Jim in the same moment he licked his lips. Eurus could feel his breath on her face—he’d been chewing gum, of course. God, Molly owed her. Er, now Eurus _didn’t_ owe Molly for being her own personal savior eight years in counting.

Jim quirked his eyebrows, slipped his hands in his pockets, and wandered around his side of her bedroom. Eurus watched him do this… _thing_ with his tongue as he considered her offer. She resolved to study up on the psychology behind her “killing in the afterglow” habit the moment he left because _wow_ did she need to figure out how to control that.

Jim stopped in front of her desk to examine a photo of herself and Molly. He didn’t ask who the other girl was, just picked up the frame and stared at the image within. That _marvelous_ dark glint flashed in his eyes and _both_ corners of his mouth turned up.

“I hope you selected one-to-two-day shipping, Little Holmes.”

* * *

“Are you trying to get me killed?!”

“Of course not. I’m trying to help you.” Eurus held up one of the dresses Molly had passed down to her years ago. “Think this would still fit you?”

They were in Eurus’s bedroom (again), choosing an outfit for meeting with Jim Moriarty (again), except this time the roles were reversed, and this time the meeting was a date.

Molly was pacing in front of her best friend’s bed, but she stopped when she saw the dress being held up for her inspection. She growled, pounced, and tossed the dress over her shoulder. “How is setting me up with a mass murderer helping me?!”

“That’s not _all_ he does,” Eurus rolled her eyes. “And he doesn’t even do the killing part himself. Come on, stop pretending you’re not thrilled.”

The pathologist-in-training scoffed. “Okay, Eurus? Remember when I had to teach you the difference between laughing and screaming? This is like that, only now I apparently have to teach you the difference between being thrilled and being scared for my life!”

“You’re not scared,” Eurus said smoothly. She wasn’t even looking at her friend; she’d returned to scouring her closet as, in her words, “I forbid you from wearing any of your baggy jumpers on your first date with Jim.” The implications that went along with her use of the word “first” had of course sparked a whole other row on the drive over to Musgrave Hall. “I’ve been studying those emotion charts you made me, and I know you like the back of my hand. You’re excited.” She looked over her shoulder and smiled without her eyes. “At least _part_ of you was excited when I showed you his picture.”

Molly’s cheeks tinted pink. She crossed her arms over her chest and huffed. “So he’s good-looking; so what? Doesn’t change the fact he’ll kill me once he gets to know me!”

Eurus stopped what she was doing to fully turn around and face her best friend. It saddened her how little confidence Molly had in herself. And Eurus knew exactly how she’d gotten to that state in the first place.

“Not every guy is like my brother,” she said quietly. “A lot of guys would love you to pieces. And—let’s be real, Molly: I’m a murderer, and I’ve never tried to hurt you. You have a type, and you fit the type of a lot of dangerous people. We hurt others, but we have this innate instinct to protect you. I met Jim; he’s sweet. Please trust me on this.”

Molly bit her lip. She averted her eyes to Eurus’s plush white carpet beneath her feet and wriggled her toes in it.

The younger girl placed her hands on the other’s shoulders and looked into her eyes. “As your best friend, I am requiring you to go. You’ll have fun, and he’ll adore you. I promise.”

“But I’m just… Molly,” she said weakly. “I’m just Pathetic Mousy Molly.”

“I swear on my violin he will not agree.”

Molly blinked several times at the severity of that statement. At last, she gave her final argument: “No one ever gets to him.”

“Yeah,” Eurus agreed, releasing her shoulders. “Yeah, Molly, no one ever gets to him. But someone needs to.” She turned back to her closet, extracted the black dress they agreed was too tempting for her to wear herself, and spun around with a soft smile on her face. “And that someone is going to be you.”

* * *

Sherlock looked from Eurus to Molly and back to his sister again. It was a Wednesday, as well as their third day back at uni after the winter hols. Their second semester schedules had the girls finishing classes an hour before Sherlock on all days of the week, just like their first semester. However, during their first, the girls would walk around campus while they waited on him to be done. Today, they were already in the car, huddled together, squealing excitedly when he arrived. The moment he opened the back door, they broke apart and grew silent.

Just like yesterday and the day before that.

Eurus had been acting particularly smug since Christmas, but Mycroft seemed unperturbed, so Sherlock figured she was up to nothing more than her usual antics. Molly, however… Sherlock took a moment to look Molly over and make some deductions. He blinked. “New boyfriend, then, Molly?”

His sister snorted and that seemed to be the catalyst for both of the girls to dissolve into hysterics. Sherlock counted forty-three seconds until either of them regained their speaking abilities.

“Uh, yeah, Sherlock.” Molly shifted into drive and eased out of the parking lot. She was grinning so hard he imagined her cheeks felt strained. “New boyfriend.”

Sherlock looked from Eurus to Molly one last time and shook his head. He decided he didn’t _want_ to know.

He evacuated the car the moment they pulled into his driveway.

The girls lost it all over again, laughing so hard they couldn’t breathe.

“If he—only—knew!” Eurus choked out, wiping the tears from her eyes. “Oh god, he’d be so jealous.”

“Jealous?” Molly’s eyebrows shot up.

“Of you!” Eurus clarified.

Their laughter doubled.

Molly had been seeing Jim for two weeks now, and subsequently, he had become all she and Eurus talked about. Eurus wanted to know every detail of their relationship: where they went on dates, how often they texted, what all they’d done in the bedroom (“Not all of it happened in the bedroom,” Molly had slyly told Eurus last week, causing the other girl to grow even more impatient to hear all the dirty details).

“He’s taking me to his London hideout tonight,” Molly said now. “I’m meeting Sebastian, his—”

“Top sniper!” Eurus finished for her. She flung herself back in the passenger seat dramatically. “God, he’s already letting you meet Seb. I told you he’d be obsessed with you!”

Molly grinned and rolled her eyes. “Yeah, yeah. Anyway, he didn’t mention what we’re doing, but he did that thing with his tongue when he told me he wanted to bring me home, so I’m guessing we’re staying in…” She gave her best friend a cryptic side glance.

Eurus sat up straight and placed her hand on top of Molly’s. “Can I come, too? Just to watch?”

Molly shooed her hand away but couldn’t help the smile that stretched across her face. “No, weirdo! I may love you like a sister, but you are _not_ watching me and Jim have sex.”

“Pllleeeease!” The younger girl clasped her hands together in a plea. “I know what I said, but five minutes wasn’t enough to hold me over, Moll. I _need_ to see him again.”

“Don’t you think it’s weird you openly want to have sex with my boyfriend?”

“No weirder than when you openly wanted to have sex with my brother,” Eurus shot back.

Molly’s reaction was spot-on. She didn’t blush; she didn’t huff; she didn’t cross her arms. She only quirked an eyebrow and shrugged her agreement, then went right back to discussing her upcoming date.

Eurus could have jumped for joy. Not only had she rid Molly of her crush on Sherlock, but she had also saved sweet Jim’s life.

After Jim and Molly’s second date, Eurus had received a text from a blocked number.

**Clever Eurus. What a thoughtful Christmas present. I think I’ll keep her for years to come.**

**P.S. I look forward to working with you in the future.**

**JM x**

She’d smiled to herself. The pathologist-in-training and the world’s only consulting criminal, also known as Eurus Holmes’s humanity.

* * *

“I haven’t seen Molly around much lately.”

It was a Saturday morning in February, and Eurus and Sherlock were tolerating each other’s company at the breakfast table. Mycroft was at work, as usual. Sherlock was looking over the newspaper, making comments here and there about the incompetency of the police force. Eurus was scrolling through Molly’s Instagram feed, admiring all of the beautiful sights her best friend had seen on her dates with Jim. They’d been to Paris twice this month already.

“She’s been busy,” Eurus replied, placing her phone face down on the table. She raised her steaming cup of tea to her lips and drummed her nails on the side of the porcelain, waiting for her brother’s reaction.

Sherlock’s expression didn’t change. He flipped to the next page in his paper and stayed silent for a moment.

And then:

“I don’t think she likes me very much anymore.”

Eurus smiled innocently and sipped her tea. “Hm.”

**Author's Note:**

> The lovely BurningLostStars made a graphic to go along with this fic: http://whyimmathere.tumblr.com/post/167154993732/my-persuasion-can-build-a-nation-by-ribcage-in-a  
> UPDATE: She also made this _adorable_ follow-up gif: http://whyimmathere.tumblr.com/post/171657664667/a-sort-of-follow-up-to-blessmoriartys-fic-my :D


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